A female-led film about freedom fighters that’s written and directed by a woman? Count us in. “Paterson” actress Golshifteh Farahani has signed on to star in Eva Husson’s “Girls of the Sun,” Variety reports: “The drama follows a battalion of female resistance fighters, nicknamed the Girls of the Sun, who were former captives of extremists and have vowed to reconquer their own land.”
The “Paterson” actress will play Bahar, “a lawyer who turns into a fearless soldier and becomes chief of a battalion after being kidnapped while on a trip to her native village in Kurdistan with her husband and child,” the source details.
“Girls of the Sun” is Husson’s follow-up to her feature directorial debut, the evocatively titled “Bang Gang: A Modern Love Story.” The coming-of-age story centers on a group of teens who organize orgies in the midst of dealing with more conventional high school drama — arguments with friends, poor communication with parents, and unrequited romantic feelings. After making its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, the racy film had a theatrical release in summer 2016.
Husson is reuniting with “Bang Gang” producer Didar Domheri at Maneki Films for “Girls of the Sun,” which, like “Bang Gang,” was inspired by something Husson read.
Variety writes that Husson was drawn to tell this story “after reading about the Yazidi women who got captured by ISIS, but escaped and joined forces as soldiers to resist oppression. The Iraqi Office of Religious Affairs states that out of the 6,255 women and children of this religious minority who were kidnapped, an estimated 3,000 remain prisoners.”
“Surprisingly, so far, in the ‘mainstream’ war film genre, there’s never been a story centered around female soldiers,” said Domheri. A number of female-led war films are in the works, including Ellen Page in Reed Morano’s “Lioness,” Teyonah Parris in Christine Swanson’s “Buffalo Soldier Girl,” and “Ashley’s War,” produced by Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea.
Husson revealed that she had Farahani in mind while writing the script. “I’m convinced that Golshifteh Farahani’s versatility and charisma are perfect to convey on screen a modern-time heroine of epic stature,” said Husson.
Shooting for “Girls of the Sun” will kick off in Georgia at the end of 2017. The film is being presented at the Berlinale Co-Production Market,which runs from February 12–15.
When we asked Husson her advice for other female filmmakers, she said, “Be bold. Own your womanhood, on set and during the process. On the first day, I warned my crew that I cried a lot, that it was just a way to blow off steam for me and that it didn’t mean anything,” she explained. “It never became an issue. There are hostile environments for us as women. Don’t stay stuck in them; go around them. There are people and institutions who make us better women, better directors. Seek them out. It might take time, but it will be worth it.”
You can catch Farahani in the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” installment, “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” due May 26.
